The Forgotten Goddess

Chapter Two

Mila

"What should we do? We need to do something! NOW!!"

"Bring the baby!!!"

"No way!! We don’t know what she can do yet, Evelyn! And she’s got a little more than 24 hours of life, which she spent most just running away. HOW ON EARTH WILL SHE DO ANYTHING?!"

"JUST BRING HER!!! I WON’T LET MY DAUGHTER DIE LIKE THIS!!!"

"Hey sweetie! I’m sorry!"

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

6AM! I groan while looking at the alarm clock and wishing it would explode - but it doesn’t, so I just turn it off before the whole house is awake - even though I know I’m the last one up in this house.

I close my eyes and say to myself "It’s time to leave bed". I’m already sweating from my dream, so I head straight to the shower.

I enter the bathroom, close the door and start the shower. "Again, the same dream", I groan as I take my clothes off. This is the 7th night in a row I’ve had it and I still haven't told my grandparents about it. That's because every time there is something new.

The thing is, I know all the faces in my dream: my pale b****y mother is lying in her bed; my father is crying at the sight of my b****y mother; my grandmother tells my grandfather to bring me; then, my father and grandma start arguing and my grandpa hands me to my mother.

One thing is different: my bedroom doesn’t have the same huge bed as in my dreams. That’s why I know it’s a dream. Even though it feels so real every single time.

My heart aches that I was not able to meet my parents. They died in a huge fight when I was still a baby.

Both my parents were great warriors. After they were mated, they went to my father's pack where he was the gamma and my mother became an official advisor for his pack.

My father's pack had been having issues with the rogues, and they had been fighting them for years when I was born. My mother went into labor during a surprise attack and all my parents could do was run to make sure I would survive.

Somehow I did and grandpa and grandma took me in. I've been with them ever since - almost 15 years, to be exact.

I let the water fall on my face for a while, still thinking about the many vivid details in my dreams. The smells. That’s what woke me up. I know those smells.

They’re the same smells that wake me up every single day: homemade cookies, hot chocolate, waffles and deep-fried cake batter; omelet, toast, bacon, and orange juice. And my two favorite smells of all: grandma and grandpa.

Since my grandparents raised me, I grew up in their pack. My father’s parents never came for me. For some reason, I never asked about them either.

But there was another smell this time. Blood. Not any blood. It was different. But I can’t put my finger on it - yet.

I turn the shower off, dry myself and get dressed. As soon as I open the door, I’m hit by the smell of breakfast. Homemade cookies, hot chocolate, waffles and deep-fried cake batter; omelet, toast, bacon, and orange juice.

Honestly, I have no idea how my grandma does it all so quickly! And I love it. I blow my hair dry, get my backpack and head downstairs.

"Good morning, mija". That’s my abuelo.

His name is Carlos, his family is originally from Spain and, even though his family has been in the United States for generations, they never stopped speaking and teaching Spanish to their pups.

“Good morning, abuelo” I say as I take my seat next to him and give him a kiss.

Abuelo is a very handsome man. He's a very strong 68-year-old man with gray hair. He’s not like the other grandfathers. He likes to run and exercise every day before sunrise.

I used to love waking up early and going running with him - that's because he would turn into his Cesar, his werewolf, and run with me on his back. It's been years since we last did that.

He’s also really active and in charge of the training for the warriors of our pack. He’s a general or commander or something like that. I never paid much attention to it - not until my last year in the Army’s Elementary School.

I realized he had some sort of title in the pack army because he went to my previous school last year for a demonstration on combat, everyone made a huge fuss about it, and wiped the floor with all the bullies.

Needless to say, I became untouchable after that - literally.

Nanna’s family is originally from Italy. I guess that’s why her cooking is so amazing. Even though her roots are Italian, her name is Evelyn. And differently from Abuelo's family, her family stopped speaking Italian a couple of generations ago - so all she knows is a couple of words and lots of swearing.

She’s also very beautiful. She’s not thin, but she’s not fat either. She’s just perfect - curves in all the right places, like Abuelo likes to say. Her pitch black hair is always groomed to perfection. Even when she’s busy with home affairs and me.

Not that I’m such a brat or hard to deal with. It’s just because I have a secret power that I need to train and hide. And because I still didn't get my wolf, I need to be extra careful with it. So she’s always around - literally. She became the new principal of my new school. HOW?! I have no idea!

My grandparents met during one of our traditional festivities: the harvest moon festivities in mid-autumn. They lived in opposite directions - Nanna on the east and Abuelo on the west. However, both families decided to go back to Europe to celebrate in their places of origin. They ended up sitting together during the flight and they just knew it. Abuelo jokes that it was almost impossible to keep Nanna away from him. That always gets under her skin.

"Nanna!" I say, getting her attention from the pans and the stove. She eyes me like she knows I need to ask something.

"Another nightmare, child?" She knows it. Of course, she knows it.

"Yes", I say as I put my head down while playing with the food on my plate.

"Niña, mira!" Abuelo says putting his newspaper down and one of his hands on my shoulder. "You can tell us anything."

"I keep having the same dream. But, this time I smelled things. I smelled breakfast, and you guys", I trail off, not knowing how to say the next word.

"Of course you’d smell breakfast, bambina. The whole pack can smell my cooking this early in the morning," Nanna says with a smile on her face. She’s a great cook, and she knows it.

"I also smelled blood, Nanna. Like, a lot of blood."

They look at each other like small kids that have been busted for lying to their parents.